Cedarosaurus
Cedarosaurus ("Cedar Lizard") is a Macaronian nasal-crested sauropod dinosaur that lived during the Early Cretaceous,135 to 110 million years ago living in an place now known as Utah. Like all big sauropods, it lived in herds to look after youngsters and each other. Physical Characteristics Cedarosaurus were 14.02 meters long (46 feet long) and have been estimated to be 40 to 50 tons even though they believe they were lighter due to bones. Cedarosaurus had a more gracile ulna and radius than its relative Venenosaurus. The ratio of the radius' least circumference to its length is .31 in Cedarosaurus. Metatarsal II is more gracile in Cedarosaurus. Its middle tail vertebrae's neural spines angled anteriorly when the vertebrae are aligned. These vertebrae resemble those of Gondwanatitan, Venenosaurus, and Aeolosaurus. The related Venenosaurus had unusual lateral fossae, which looked like deep depressions in the outside walls of the vertebral centra. Some fossae are divided into two chambers by a ridge inside the depression.4 In most sauropods the fossae would form pneumatic openings leading to the interior of the centrum, rather than just being a depression. Less well-developed, but similar fossae are known from Cedarosaurus itself. Gastroliths In 2001 Frank Sanders, Kim Manley, and Kenneth Carpenter published a study on 115 gastroliths discovered in association with a Cedarosaurus specimen. The stones were identified as gastroliths on the basis of their tight spatial distribution, partial matrix support, and an edge-on orientation indicative of their being deposited while the carcass still had soft tissue. Their high surface reflectance values are consistent with other known dinosaur gastroliths. Nearly all of the Cedarosaurus gastroliths were found within a .06 m volume of space in the gut region of the skeleton. The total mass of the gastroliths themselves was 7 kilograms (15 lb). Most were less than 10 millilitres (0.35 imp fl oz; 0.34 US fl oz) in volume. The least massive clast was .1 grams (0.0035 oz) and the most was 715 grams (25.2 oz), with most of them being toward the smaller end of that range. The clasts tended to be close to spherical in shape, although the largest specimens were also the most irregular. The largest gastroliths contributed the most to the total surface area of the set. Some gastroliths were so large and irregularly shaped that they may have been difficult to swallow. The gastroliths were mostly composed of chert, with some sandstone, siltstone, and quartzite clasts also included. Some of the chert clasts actually contained fossils. Since some of the most irregular gastroliths are also the largest, it is unlikely that they were ingested by accident. Cedarosaurus may have found irregular clasts to be attractive potential gastroliths or was not selective about shape. The clasts were generally of dull coloration, suggesting that color was not a major factor for the sauropod's decision making. The high surface area to volume ratio of the largest clasts suggests that the gastroliths may have broken down ingested plant material by grinding or crushing it. The sandstone clasts tended to be fragile and some broke in the process of collection. The sandstone gastroliths may have been rendered fragile after deposition by loss of cement caused by the external chemical environment. If the clasts had been that fragile while the animal was alive, they probably rolled and tumbled in the digestive tract. If they were more robust, they could have served as part of a ball-mill system. Dinosaur Revolution It appeared in Survival Tactics where a family was roaming a desert-like area in Utah, they are suddenly spotted by a deadly pack of brown Utahraptors, which gave chase to them, (but only for the youngster) but another grey Utahraptor pack has suddenly an eye on them and also give chase to them. They both manage to catch up to the young sauropod but begin fighting and killing each other for the prey, as they were fighting; the little herbivore tried to escape but his leg was caught by a crocodyliform but the raptors stop and chase it away. The young looks finished, but the adults arrived and killed two members and chased the last two away, the youngster was now back to safety with the herd. Cedarosaurus Cedarosaurus Category:Brachiosaurs Category:Cretaceous animals Category:Animals from North America Category:Herbivores Category:Creatures cedarosaurus Category:Survival Tactics animals Category:Heroes and Villans Category:Heroes Category:Main Protagonist Category:Protagonist animals Category:Secondary Protagonists